Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust Fund Program

Program Information

There are two sources of revenue for the Drycleaning Environmental Response Trust, or DERT, Fund. The first is an
annual registration fee and the second is a solvent surcharge.

The annual registration fee is computed as follows:

Size of dry cleaner

Gallons of chlorinated solvent used

Annual
registration fee

Small

0 to 140

$500

Medium

141 to 360

$1,000

Large

>360

$1,500

The solvent surcharge is reported and paid by the solvent suppliers on a quarterly basis. The solvent surcharge imposed is $8 per gallon for PCE, TCE and other chlorinated solvents.

Types of Chlorinated Dry Cleaning Solvents:

Tetrachloroethylene, Perchloroethylene, or PERC.

Trichloroethylene, or TCE.

Trichloroethane, or TCA.

Freon 113.

Valclene.

Under the statute, owners and operators are required to pay a "deductible" of $25,000 for site investigation and remediation of each site cleaned up in the program. The fund places a cap of fund moneys spent to $1 million dollars per site and limits the total fund moneys spent on any one dry cleaner site in any one fiscal year to 25 percent of the total monies in the DERT Fund.

List of Solvent Suppliers - Who are in compliance with RSMo 260.940

The dry cleaning facility owner or operator will be held responsible for paying the solvent surcharges and any applicable penalties and interest if the supplier does not pay the solvent surcharge to the state. You will need to keep all receipts from the solvent suppliers that provide solvents to you to show that you paid the solvent surcharge. Also be sure to ask your solvent suppliers for a copy of their receipt from the department for the last quarterly solvent surcharge reporting period. The periods for solvent surcharge reporting are from January 1 to March 31, April 1 to June 30, July 1 to September 30, and October 1 to December 31 of each calendar year.

The department issued the first solvent surcharge receipts in April 2004 and these receipts are issued quarterly within 60 days after the end of the quarter. The following link opens a list of solvent suppliers that the department has been informed of that provide chlorinated solvents to dry cleaning facilities. The first list indicates which solvent providers are in compliance with RSMo, Section 260.940.

The second list indicates the solvent providers who are not in compliance with RSMo, Section 260.940. These providers have not submitted reports of past surcharges or are otherwise in non-compliance with the statute.

These lists will be updated as new information is made available to the department. You can also call us at 573-526-8913 to obtain information on a solvent provider.

Abandoned Dry Cleaning Facilities:According to RSMo 260.925 , the DERT Fund monies cannot be used to pay for corrective action at abandoned dry cleaning facilities taken out of service prior to July 1, 2009, that were not documented by or reported to the department by July 1, 2009.

Site Investigation and Remediation IssuesWork plans for site investigation and remediation activities should be developed in accordance with the Missouri Risk-Based Corrective Action, or MRBCA, Technical Guidance Document.

Requirements of the risk-based remediation rule will be incorporated into the decision making regarding site investigation and corrective action at dry cleaning sites.

Site PrioritizationIn accordance with RSMo 260.905, and 10 CSR 25-17.140, the DERT Fund allocates monies to prioritized sites in the following proportions: high priority sites: 60 percent; medium priority sites: 30 percent; low priority sites: 10 percent. In any fiscal year, if the funding allocation in any priority category is not used, those funds may be reallocated to other priority categories, starting with any high priority sites and followed by medium and then low priority sites.

Sites applying to the program must submit the results of one soil, groundwater or surface water sample that exhibits contamination of dry cleaner solvent that is in excess of the department cleanup levels. The initial assessment will allow the deparetment to determine the eligibility of the site in the fund. Some sites will provide enough information during the application process to receive a ranking score. Other sites will require additional information before a ranking score can be determined.

If the site has not provided enough information to have a ranking score determined, the department will direct the owner or operator to conduct the necessary assessments to determine a ranking score. The ranking score is based on such factors as environmental contamination, potential economics, potential receptors, risk-based cleanup parameters, site history, threat to drinking water sources, threat to off-site properties, etc.

Additional information will be added to this site as program development continues for the DERT Fund.